Early Retirement...

Late last year, I retired from being a Thermomix consultant. My health had not been the greatest and my day job just left no time during the week for demos or any of the customer care I wanted to devote time to. Weekends ended up being running around ragged trying to ensure a balance of life, additional work and Thermomix and recipe testing. I just had very little energy left for me. I met some extremely fun and friendly people who all shared interest in food, healthy eating and family life balance. And I feel privileged to have been able to share in an experience that is so rewarding in terms of food (the best currency ever).

I will definitely keep experimenting and posting recipes when I have the time :)

Cloudless mini quiches

I keep changing up the quiche/muffin recipe I have since it's just so easy to vary things when you throw things into the Thermomix. I used left over 'oven baked/roasted' corn kernels and cheese egg batter for a more eggy tartlet. I wonder why I named the post "cloudless mini quiches" ... is it because they're more like omlette tarts and not really quiche-like?

I try to do the Red Cross Big Cake Bake every year if I can. Usually raise between $240 to $400 at work morning tea. This year may try something different to fundraise instead ...

This was a variation of the banana, bran and walnut recipe

Banana loaf - Trial

This was tonight's baking spree. 

Ingredients:

230-250g Over ripe banana (2 lrg or 3-4 medium sized will do)

1 Banana (sliced & set aside)

125g Butter

100g Raw sugar

2 Eggs (60g eggs)

220 Self-raising flour

80g Milk (soy or other types can be used)

Vanilla been paste/pods/essence

Optional extras:

Handful of: almonds and/or walnuts, frozen berries (raspberries work well).

2 Tblspn cocoa powder or 100g (cooking) chocolate pieces of your choice. (If using cookig chocolate - rough chop using turbo twice, or mill chocolate down to fine consistency and set aside before Step 1).

Dried fruits: prunes, dates, cranberries etc.

My optional extra's this round is my PACCAW mix (Prunes, Apple, Coconut, Cranberries, Almonds, Walnuts) 30g each + 1 apple quarter, method similar to CADA mix recipe.

*Preheat oven 200C fan forced & line loaf tin with baking paper.

Method: 

1. mill raw sugar with vanilla bean to vanilla icing sugar - if using paste or essence add with step .

2. Add butter, 100C, 2 mins, Speed 2. To melt butter.

3. Add the bananas. Chop/blend 10 seconds, Speed 5. 

4. Add remaining ingredients: eggs, SR flour, milk, (vanilla essence, cocoa powder).

5. Pour into loaf tin.

6. Rinse TM bowl, make CADA or PACCAW mix.

7. Pour into loaf tin.

8. Add in banana slices. 

9. Using a butter knife - swirl / stir to roughly mix into banana loaf mixture.

10. Bake at 200C for 45-50mins, use a skewer to test if it comes out clean and not wet your loaf is ready. 

Can leave to cool a little in over with door slightly ajar.

Cake walk

Making buttercream icing was a cake walk! The official Thermomix recipe community has an easy recipe to follow.

Normal icing with milk

Or cream cheese icing :) and you can flavour your raw sugar to icing sugar mix! 

Chocolate Banana cupcakes - cheat

Sponge cake mix in your EDC, add cocoa powder and berries & banana chunks!

Use a Loaf tin and add some walnuts, voila a chocolate banana walnut loaf! hahahah I'm such a cheater in the kitchen sometimes.

Cake decoration class paid off!

Birthday cake for me! King pig in the mud spa!

Torte caprese: 3 lil' piggies in a mud spa (chocolate ganache) with hidden centre of berry goodness. Totally gluten free! But dairy & chocolate laden!

Thai green curry for cooking cheats

I'm a huge fan of Thai green curry and yes I realize you can make the Thai green curry paste from scratch in the Thermomix. It's Alan Quah's recipe in A Taste of Asia Cookbook. But I can't seem to justify making a wholetub of it for myself. Cooking for 1 or two is difficult and I'll never use up the paste (since it doesn't have preservatives, it's not like the jarred suff you can keep for months in the fridge). It does taste ingredible (I've made it before... but I had to throw 1/2 a bottle when I didn't finish it in time). 

 If you have a preferred brand of Thai Green Curry paste, let me know. I've been using this one for a while and it's my current favourite, but I'm keen to see what other ones taste like too. 

Ingredients:

1 medium brown onion

1 clove of garlic

1 dried chilli

50g olive oil

180g pork (in this case, you can use chicken or any other meat of choice - white meat or fish works best)

400g can of coconut milk

2 medium carrots (cubed/roughly chopped)

1 large zucchini (cubed)

100g baby spinach

Method: 

1. Chop & Stir fry onion, garlic and 1 dried chilli. Speed 5, 5 seconds.

2. Add 50g oil, fry on Varoma temperature, Speed 1, 3 minutes.

3. Add 2 tblspn of the Green curry Paste. Cook on Varoma temperature, Speed 1, 2 minutes.

4. Add (cubed/strips) Pork / Chicken or meat of preference. Cook on Varoma temperature, Speed 1 reverse, 5 minutes.

5. Add carrots & coconut milk. Cook at 100C , Speed 1 reverse, 16 minutes.

6. Add zucchini. Cook at 100C, Speed 1 reverse, 4 minutes.

7. Place spinach in Thermoserver, pour out bowl into Thermoserver, stir and leave while you make rice!